Serena Williams ‘evolving away from tennis’ and set to retire after US Open

08/09/2022

Williams will leave behind one of the greatest careers in all of sport. Raised in Compton, California alongside her older sister Venus and taught how to play by their father Richard, the Williams sisters blazed a trail that has seen them both dominate tennis for the large part of the past 25 years.

Williams has won seven Wimbledon titles, seven Australian Opens, six US Opens and three French Opens, as well as four Olympic gold medals. She held the No 1 ranking for a total off 319 weeks and became the oldest World No 1 at the age of 35 in 2017, shortly after her last grand slam title at the Australian Open.

Williams departs Centre Court after her defeat to Harmony Tan at Wimbledon this year

After childbirth, Williams reached four further grand slam finals including two at Wimbledon in 2017 and 2018. She stepped away from the sport for almost a year after tearing her hamstring in the first round of Wimbledon in 2021 but returned to the All England Club earlier this summer in a first-round defeat to Harmony Tan on Centre Court.

While Williams has not explicitly stated that the US Open will be her final tournament, she has entered a series of warm-up tournaments before the New York grand slam. Williams won her first singles match in over a year last night in the opening round of the Toronto Open but dropped a clue that her retirement was imminent.

Williams is heavily involved in her venture capital firm Serena Ventures. At Wimbledon, Williams said Serena Ventures “felt more of my life” than tennis, and added: “When you do have a venture company, you do have to go all in. It definitely takes literally all my extra time. And it’s fun.”

Williams is one short of the all-time grand slam record held by Margaret Court and her 24 titles. “Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year. And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York,” she told Vogue. “But I’m going to try.”

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